On paper, everything was planned: trains, buses and trams should not be a problem for the 2024 Paris Games. But the lack of drivers and the current problems of Parisian public transport are worrying, especially since the promised meters will not arrive to all. be prepared. “We will do everything we can to be there,” promised Jean Castex, former prime minister and current chief executive of the RATP, as he announced thousands of hires.
An extension of the RATP monopoly is expected
The Parisian public transport operator has been put to the test since the summer, victim of staff shortages, recruitment difficulties, worrying absenteeism and sporadic strikes. Buses and metros have become more scarce, exasperating users… and raising questions for the Olympics. The RATP has managed to partially rectify the situation, but will it be able to sufficiently motivate its drivers in the summer of 2024? Will we also find drivers for the thousand buses that are supposed to transport the 250,000 athletes, organizers, personalities and journalists?
The social climate is also a problem, since the Olympic Games are organized six months before the opening to competition of the bus network that currently operates as a monopoly of the RATP. The unions of the Régie are very hostile to it, the regional left (opposition) is agitated… A strike would cause disorder! The Delegate Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, says that he is ready to extend the RATP monopoly.
Almost 10 million people transported every day
“We are going to have to transport in mid-August what we usually transport on a peak day,” explained Valérie Pécresse, president of the regional transport authority, Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM): 9 to 10 million people, in 25 Olympic sites, mainly concentrated in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis.
“The transport plan is ready” for the Olympic Games, still assures IDFM, which is working on an application dedicated to transport during the Games to balance the flow of travelers between lines. Expected launch date: spring 2024. Valérie Pécresse continues to ask for state help to balance its budget next year – the additional offer for the Olympic Games, in particular, must cost 200 million euros -, threatening not to open new lines if not get nothing.
On the infrastructure side, a look at the Paris 2024 bid file published seven years ago is disconcerting. For example, he promised travel times of “22 minutes to the media village and 30 minutes to the Olympic village from Roissy (airport) on line 17” of the future Grand Paris metro. But this will not be completed before 2030… The CDG Express, a fast train to connect Roissy with the center of Paris, and line 16 will not be there either.
insufficient alternatives
The only metro that will be open (right) on time: line 14, which should be extended north to Saint-Denis Pleyel near the Olympic village and south to Orly airport. In June 2024. “The announced solutions do not seem sufficient or operationally viable”, judge Iona Lefebvre, of the Institut Montaigne, a think tank on public policies in France. For her, the replacement of unfinished metros by buses or shuttles over the Seine “will not satisfy the needs in a coherent way.”
Valérie Pécresse is also concerned about the risks of saturation during the opening ceremony on the Seine on July 26, 2024, “a crossover Friday night” with 600,000 spectators to be transported in addition to holidaymakers en route to the Parisian resorts. “The capacity would be insufficient and it would be dangerous,” she warned. Laurent Probst, managing director of IDFM, claimed less than 500,000 viewers, “otherwise we won’t be able to manage”. The gauge reassessment is “under study,” he said.
The scenes of chaos around the Stade de France during the Football Champions League final at the end of May are still in everyone’s memory. The General Director of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, however, prefers to be optimistic on security and transport issues, particularly in their budgetary dimension: “When the Court of Auditors returns in April, we will have good news to announce. Even in matters of transport and security”.
Source: BFM TV
